ENTERPRISE FACILITATION (EF) HAS CHANGED THE CULTURE OF AN ENTIRE COMMUNITY

How could a community start 100 new businesses and assist 1100 entrepreneurs without providing a penny of funding or an hour of classroom bringing to local entrepreneurs?  

Does that sound like an unrealistic model?  Something that has never been done before? 

Enterprise Facilitation is not a new and unproven maverick approach to local economic development; it is a 35-year-old professional practice that can be taught to anyone who is willing to listen.

Enterprise Facilitation is a local economic and community development method that keeps community development academics and bureaucrats scratching their heads after 35 years of practice. 

Is this a concept that would work in our community?  

Learn more here.

"The future of every community lies in capturing the passion intelligence, imagination, and resources of its people."  

~ Dr. Ernesto Sirolli

NEW ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION - RESHUFFLES THE CHAIRS?

Since the dismantling of the Tallahassee/Leon County Economic Development Council*, there has been much public discussion about what should replace it.  

As of the end of February 2016, an Intergovernmental Agency made up of Leon County and Tallahassee Commissioners, will form under the direction of County Administrator, Vince Long, and Tallahassee City Manager, Rick Fernandez.  

The purpose of the organization is to grow economic development in our area.  Since the new agency will be housed in the newly reorganized City/County Planning Department's section called P.L.A.C.E, it will most likely focus on the expenditure of over $90 million in Blueprint sales tax revenues.  Activities will be directed by Ben Pingree, the former executive director of the old EDC (Economic Development Council*).  

THE OLD MODEL FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN TALLAHASSEE/LEON COUNTY

The Tallahassee/Leon County Community Redevelopment Agency Board has consistently indicated it was in the business of "bricks and sticks."  Exceptions to this approach include the limited, small grants that support community festivals such as those funded in 2014:  the Sci-Fi Film Series, ArtiGras Festival, Living History Demonstration, and more.  

Little support has been given directly to the promotion of economic opportunity, retention and expansion of existing businesses, job creation and retention, and the recruitment of new businesses to encourage growth in areas experiencing insufficient economic growth. Although “economic development” is not specifically defined in the Florida Statues, Chapter 163, the statute governing community redevelopment agencies, it suggests that it includes economic development as described above.  

Economic development can include tourism, mixed-use development, home building, creating infrastructure, acquiring real property, beautification efforts, commercial area revitalization, and transportation.

The tax increment funding from the CRA is one method to finance economic development and is not mutually exclusive to other methods. There are other funding sources available, which include bank community development corporations, federal and state tax credits and incentives, programs through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development such as Community Development Block Grant funding (CDBG), State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP), HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), Business Improvement Districts, state of Florida affordable housing programs such as State Apartment Incentive Loan program (SAIL) and others.  

THE OLD MODEL FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN TALLAHASSEE/LEON COUNTY:

In November 2012, the following list of resources was submitted at the Leon County Commercialization & Technology Transfer Stakeholder Forum identifying resources in Leon County in the following areas:  

• Product Development 
• Equipment 
• Networking & Mentorship 
• Legal, 
• Marketing, 
• IT, & Commercialization Assistance 
• Business Admin. Training 
• Workforce Training

The following entrepreneurial resources were identified:

1. Florida Venture Forum
2. Vision 2020
3. Tallahassee Community College - AMTC
4. Tallahassee Community College - Capitol Center
5. SCORE at Tallahassee Community College
6. FL Institute for Commercialization of Public Research
7. EDC & Workforce Plus - Quick Response Training Program
8. EDC - Entrepreneurial Excellence Program
9. EDC - Industry Sector Roundtables
10. FAMU Small Business Development Center - 1 on 1 Counseling
11. FAMU Small Business Development Center - Business Mentoring
12. FAMU Small Business Development Center - Resource Library
13. FAMU Office of Technology Transfer
14. FSU Office of IP Development & Commercialization
15. FSU Research Foundation - GAP Program
16. Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship - General Services
17. Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship - InNOLEvation Accelerator
18. Leon County Research and Development Authority/ Innovation Park - Incubator
19. Leon County Research and Development Authority/ Innovation Park - Tech Grant
20. Silicon Tally
21. Startup Round
22. Summit East
23. TalTech Alliance
24. Tallahassee Business Resources
25. Making Awesome (formerly Tallahassee Fab Lab)

Add the business incubator, Domi Station, to this list.  The creation that emerged from this forum.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT HAS MISSED ITS MARK, ESPECIALLY IN POOR COMMUNITIES

In an January 2016 article in the Tallahassee Democrat, the Mayor comments on

the area's "pretty pitiful" track record of attracting new businesses, Mayor Andrew Gillum suggests splitting the area's two largest business-advocate organizations — the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee/Leon County and the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce.
To set clearer economic development goals, Gillum told the Tallahassee Democrat editorial board on Thursday, there needs to be a change.

While the City leans on the investments made by the Danfoss Turbocore operation in Innovation Park, it seems that other achievements have been sparse. Yes, there has been a recent growth in businesses locating in the Tallahassee region, retail and restaurants comprise the majority of this growth. These establishments bring minimum wage jobs to area, with a few managerial positions. To date, no impact has been made to the rate of unemployment in Tallahassee's southside neighborhoods.

A year ago, this author brought to light the City of Tallahassee's economic segregation and lack of vital economic development accomplishments.

“The capital of the quality of life” does not acknowledge the extreme poverty located primarily in the Frenchtown and Southside neighborhoods. To get an idea, one has to get off the main streets. In Frenchtown, Brevard Street was a hub of the black business community during segregation, and looks pretty good today. To see the conditions where people live, you need to walk or drive along the streets without sidewalks, the “D” streets, Dade, Dent, Dewey, etc. South City looks even worse. Yes, we have ghettos in Tallahassee.

There are at least two separate Tallahassee’s.